(UPDATE July 2015): I’ve updated the map to reflect the final state of the Orange Line which opened recently. A few fixes were made for the Orange Line: the route extends into the downtown core, and a stop was removed.

Recently I was in the market for a USB Hub/Card Reader for my desktop PC, which would slot into a drive bay (like a DVD-R drive). I thought it would be funny if such a device included a gag port for Robocop’s “data spike“.

OCP branding would be an added bonus too. Imagine if there was a line of consumer gadgets with the OCP logo? Being defective or shoddy would be a feature.

You know those neat projection keyboards? I think they could be used for interactive board games as well. This would allow you to instantly fire up a game of Settlers Of Catan or RISK, and without setting up all the pieces. Better yet, you could save games too, just like a video game.

Projected games would feature the usual board game elements: rolling dice, sliding pieces around, and so on. However the dynamic projection would allow for cool effects like zooming in, panning the board game around, and lots of animation.

For this design I wanted multiple projections from 4 sides to ensure the game board stays visually intact at all times, so I went for this “hula hoop” design to encircle the game board. For added functionality, it folds up to a crescent shape so that it can be used as a vanilla projection keyboard.

I’m really just scratching the surface with this concept. Could the projected games be in full color? Could this device interact with actual pieces (dice)? Could it work with physical card decks (each card with a scan code)? Could it emit sounds for the game? I’d like to think this device can do all of that and more, there’s plenty of potential here.